Advantages of Starting College Applications Over the Summer

Advantages of Starting College Applications Over the Summer

College applications—with their numerous essay requirements, recommendation letters, and activity lists—can feel difficult to tackle and easy to put off for another time.But procrastination is not your friend. When we ask our graduating students their advice for the next class of seniors, one suggestion inevitably comes up: start early.  The sooner you begin, the better.Summer is an opportune time. You’ll have time to rest, recuperate from junior year, reflect on your journey, and start your college applications. Your future self will thank you for making progress on applications before the fall arrives and you’re plunged back into the demands of school.If you are still not convinced, consider these factors:

Good Essays Come from a Slow Bake

Funny enough, the process of writing personal essays has many parallels to cooking. For example, you might trim the “fat” of an essay by cutting out sentences that do not relate to the main themes, or you might add in spicy details to make a story pop.Broths with the deepest flavors come from being simmered for hours. In the same way, the more you sit with an idea, the more its richness and textures come out. Stories need time to bake in the oven of your mind to be fully formed and for nuances to emerge. When something is half-baked, it doesn’t taste good.Don’t wait until fall to begin thinking about what story you want to tell. Give your brain time to mull over your personal journey, to write and rewrite, so that your ideas can gain greater depth and leave a lasting impression on admissions readers.

The Most Challenging Classes Yet

Despite it being your last year, there is no room for senioritis. Colleges value upward academic trajectories and expect students to take their most rigorous course load during senior year.While we understand students’ reasoning for taking it easy on course selection (to free up time for other demanding responsibilities), we encourage you to finish strong. Now is the time to challenge yourself and show colleges your academic prowess.Start early on your college applications so that you can sustain concentration on your coursework and perform to the best of your best abilities. 

New Leadership Positions

As a senior, you may be holding new leadership positions that come with additional responsibilities. Even as you apply to colleges and take rigorous classes, you cannot neglect these duties.Finishing more of your college applications sooner not only frees up time, but it allows you to focus on strengthening your candidacy. Build on previous achievements as a student leader and continue to make positive impact on your campus and local community.

Early Applications

Many early applications are due on November 1st. Once school begins and you hit the ground running, finding time to put together a quality application can be tough. In some cases, students’ midterms land around the same time as their early decision deadline.  You could very well finish an application within a week but that likely will not be your best work. Most students apply early decision to their dream school. Give yourself the best shot possible and start early to put together your strongest application.

Surprise Essays

It is deadline day. You have scoured your application to make sure you’ve completed everything. But then, you find that a surprise component appears. No time left. You scramble to finish what is required and leave optional essays unanswered.While this sounds like a worst-case scenario and would only apply to the most careless individuals, it happens more often than one would expect.Application platforms do not always lend to easy navigation. In the Common App, certain essay prompts only appear after you have answered a previous question. Yale, for example, allowed students who indicated engineering as their first-choice major to write an optional essay. However, this text box only appeared after selecting the top three fields of study.Even though it is optional, submitting an additional essay could strengthen your chances of admissions, especially for highly competitive universities like Yale.Avoid finishing your applications on deadline day. Instead, finalize everything at least four days in advance, so that you’ll have greater capacity to manage surprises.

Enjoy Senior Year

The last year of high school can be bittersweet. A new adventure awaits, but you will also be leaving behind a community of students, teachers, and mentors. Give yourself time to participate in senior year festivities and to hang out with close friends. It is easy to be consumed by the demands of schoolwork and college applications. But if you make a head start during the summer, you’ll have more space to cherish your last moments of high school.The expert admissions consultants at Wise World Prep have helped hundreds of students maximize their potential of being admitted to their top choice colleges and universities. Over 20 years, we have successfully guided students through each stage of the application process – from choosing competitive high school courses to building an appropriate college list to drafting winning essays to writing persuasive update and appeals letters. We would be happy to answer your questions and partner with you to create a successful admissions roadmap.Ready to get started? Schedule a complimentary 20-minute conversation today!Want to stay informed? Subscribe to our newsletter.See what others are saying about us